Bill Wrobel's DVD - Film Score Rundowns

effectively, you could rather identify with the suffering of Scotty, you could feel for
Madeleine for a while because Hitchcock duped the audience about her until the letterwriting
revelation scene. But the Garden of Evil characters were in effect as arid and dry
and unappealing as the volcanic terrain they visited in their trek to the Mexican mine.
I would still recommend this dvd of course for two very important reasons: (1) As
given earlier, you get to hear a vibrant Herrmann score; (2) you get to hear an interesting
commentary by Morgan & Stromberg especially, and then Redman and Steven Smith
secondarily. Morgan gave good insights many times about the music-making process
then when Herrmann composed in a healthy studio system compared to today (with too
many meddling fingers of myriad producers!). I may have written a review of this dvd
and the commentary in one of my Film Score Blogs but I don’t feel like searching for it
right now to provide a link!…Ok, here it is:
http://www.filmscorerundowns.net/blogs/37.pdf
-Rawhide (1951) *** [music ***]
http://www.amazon.com/Western-Classics-Rawhide-Gunfighter-
Garden/dp/B0014BQR1A/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1292888606&sr=1-1
This is a decent black & white Fox western starring Tyrone Power, directed by
Henry Hathaway. I love the Alabama Hills locations at Lone Pine, California. It’s not a
great western but it’s entertaining enough. I liked the simple but rousing Main Title by
Sol Kaplan.
-Flight Plan (2005) *** [music ***]
http://www.amazon.com/Flightplan-Widescreen-Jodie-
Foster/dp/B000BYY11Y/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1292888850&sr=1-1
I like this movie starring Jodie Foster, and so does my wife. I thought it was
excellently directed by Robert Schwentke, and there are clever touches here and there.
For instance, right when the “Directed By” show card appears is the slow dissolve into
the new scene of blue jumbo jet images swirling around a little girl’s bedroom.
Considering this is a movie largely set inside an Aalto E-474 fictional huge plane
(although it may be similar to the real Airbus A380), I thought this was clever. And we
really loved the design of the interior expanse of the two decks of this plane. If you listen
to the director’s excellent commentary, you will learn a lot of the tricks of the trade in the
making of this movie.
Now: There are a few fundamental flaws in the script. The fact offered by the
writer that absolutely nobody noticed that little girl lost (before she got lost!) is rather
absurd—even if you throw in the assumption that everybody else was preoccupied with
their own immediate environment and family members! There are people just a few feet
from Kyle and her daughter at her right in the same row. You really have to suspend
disbelief if you don’t think those few people did not happen to at least once look towards
their left and not see Kyle and her daughter. The writer and director therefore are
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